2061: Odyssey Three

'The new atmosphere may also have buffered the impact; even so, the shock must have been appalling – I wonder what it did to our Europan friends? – it certainly triggered a whole series of tectonic disturbances, which are still continuing.'

'And,' said Floyd, 'political ones. I'm just begi

'Amongst others.'

'But would anyone seriously imagine they could get at these diamonds?'

'We've not done so badly,' answered van der Berg, gesturing towards the back of the shuttle. 'In any case, the mere psychological effect on the industry would be enormous. That's why so many people were anxious to know whether it was true or not.'

'And now they know. What next?'

'That's not my problem, thank God. But I hope I've made a sizeable contribution to Ganymede's science budget.'

As well as my own, he added to himself.

54 – Reunion

'Whatever made you think I was dead?' cried Heywood Floyd. 'I've not felt better for years!'

Paralysed with astonishment, Chris Floyd stared at the speaker grille. He felt a great lifting of his spirits – yet also a sense of indignation. Someone – something – had played a cruel practical joke on him; but for what conceivable reason?

Fifty million kilometres away – and coming closer by several hundred every second – Heywood Floyd also sounded slightly indignant. But he also sounded vigorous and cheerful, and his voice radiated the happiness he obviously felt at knowing that Chris was safe.

'And I've got some more good news for you; the shuttle will pick you up first. It will drop some urgent medical supplies at Galaxy, then hop over to you, and bring you up to rendezvous with us on the next orbit. Universe will go down five orbits later; you'll be able to greet your friends when they come aboard.

'No more now – except to say how much I'm looking forward to making up for lost time. Waiting for your answer in – let's see – about three minutes...'

For a moment, there was complete silence aboard Bill Tee; van der Berg dared not look at his companion. Then Floyd keyed the microphone and said slowly: 'Grandad – what a wonderful surprise – I'm still in a state of shock. But I know I met you here on Europa – I know you said goodbye to me. I'm as certain of that, as I'm sure you were speaking to me just now...

'Well, we'll have plenty of time to talk about it later. But remember how Dave Bowman spoke to you, aboard Discovery? Perhaps it was something like that.

'Now we'll just sit and wait here until the shuttle comes for us. We're quite comfortable – there's an occasional quake, but nothing to worry about. Until we meet, all my love.'

He could not remember when he had last used that word to his grandfather.

After the first day, the shuttle cabin began to smell. After the second, they didn't notice – but agreed that the food was no longer quite so tasty. They also found it hard to sleep, and there were even accusations of snoring.

On day three, despite frequent bulletins from Universe, Galaxy and Earth itself, boredom was begi

But that was the last day. Before it was over, Lady Jasmine descended, seeking her lost child.

55 – Magma

'Baas,' said the apartment's master comset, 'I accessed that special programme from Ganymede while you were sleeping. Do you wish to see it now?'

'Yes,' answered Dr Paul Kreuger. 'Speed ten times. No sound.'

There would, he knew, be a lot of introductory material he could jump, and view later if he wished. He wanted to get to the action as quickly as possible.

Credits flashed up, and there on the monitor was Victor Willis, somewhere on Ganymede, gesticulating wildly in total silence. Dr Paul Kreuger, like many working scientists, took a somewhat jaundiced view of Willis, though he admitted that he performed a useful function.

Willis abruptly vanished, to be replaced by a less agitated subject – Mount Zeus. But that was much more active than any well-behaved mountain should be; Dr Kreuger was astonished to see how much it had changed since the last transmission from Europa.

'Real time,' he ordered. 'Sound.'

'...almost a hundred metres a day, and the tilt has increased fifteen degrees. Tectonic activity now violent – extensive lava flows around the base – I have Dr van der Berg with me – Van, what do you think?'

My nephew looks in remarkably good shape, thought Dr Kreuger, considering what he's been through. Good stock, of course.

'The crust obviously never recovered from the original impact, and it's giving way under the accumulated stresses. Mount Zeus has been slowly sinking ever since we discovered it, but the rate has speeded up enormously in the last few weeks. You can see the movement from day to day.'

'How long before it disappears completely?'

'I can't really believe that will happen...'

There was a quick cut to another view of the mountain, with Victor Willis speaking off camera.

'That was what Dr van der Berg said two days ago. Any comment now, Van?'

'Er – it looks as if I was mistaken. It's going down – quite incredible – only half a kilometre left! I refuse to make any more predictions...'

'Very wise of you, Van – well, that was only yesterday. Now we'll give you a continuous time-lapse sequence, up to the moment we lost the camera...'

Dr Paul Kreuger leaned forward in his seat, watching the final act of the long drama in which he had played such a remote, yet vital role.

There was no need to speed up the replay: he was already seeing it at almost a hundred times normal. An hour was compressed into a minute – a man's lifetime into that of a butterfly.

Before his eyes, Mount Zeus was sinking. Spurts of molten sulphur rocketed skywards around it at dazzling speed, forming parabolas of brilliant, electric blue. It was like a ship going down in a stormy sea, surrounded by St Elmo's fire. Not even Io's spectacular volcanoes could match this display of violence.

'The greatest treasure ever discovered – vanishing from sight,' said Willis in hushed and reverential tones: 'Unfortunately, we can't show the finale. You'll soon see why.'

The action slowed down into real time. Only a few hundred metres of the mountain were left, and the eruptions around it now moved at a more leisurely speed.

Suddenly, the whole picture tilted; the camera's image stabilizers, which had been holding their own valiantly against the continuous trembling of the ground, gave up the unequal battle. For a moment it seemed as if the mountain was rising again – but it was the camera tripod toppling over. The very last scene from Europa was a close-up of a glowing wave of molten sulphur, about to engulf the equipment.

'Gone for ever!' lamented Willis. 'Riches infinitely greater than all the wealth that Golconda or Kimberley ever produced! What a tragic, heartbreaking loss!'

'What a stupid idiot!' spluttered Dr Kreuger. 'Doesn't he realize...'

It was time for another letter to Nature. And this secret would be much too big to hide.